Today, a Thanksgiving trip to The Witch's Cottage, an antique shop located in Felton, revealed what has been a slow moving topic of discussion as of late in the small town located in the redwoods of the Santa Cruz Mountains: the shop is currently displaying two Confederate flags in its front windows, along with a hand written statement taped nearby that reads: "History...Not Hate."

One is what appears to be a full sized replica-version of a Confederate battle flag, and the other is a smaller sticker labeled as being produced in 1999 by Eagle Emblems Inc., which sells a variety of military-style, "emblematic" products.

The shop is located along Highway 9, and in addition to the Confederate flags, two American flags also hang, and visible are stickers with statements supporting the American troops, and a sticker denoting membership in the San Lorenzo Valley Chamber of Commerce.

The main shop window is full of what look to be 1970s and 1980s era pop culture curios.

It's uncertain what the "local" reaction will be to the Confederate flags, or if there has been any attempts by the public to communicate with the owner about them. The Witch's Cottage is located in a small and somewhat isolated shopping strip along a state highway that sees very little foot or bicycle traffic.

For comparison, in 2009 a Nazi flag was displayed from an apartment window above Pacific Avenue in a busy location of downtown Santa Cruz, and the resulting protests received coverage by a variety of commercial media outlets. Rapidly, community members who were offended and wanted the flag to be removed began a letter writing campaign aimed at the apartment's owner and management, who then created a rule banning the public display of hate symbols by tenants. The flag was removed shortly after that.

The small towns located along Highway 9 in the San Lorenzo Valley have, like most areas in Santa Cruz County, experienced a regular pattern of racially motivated crime and other incidents over the years.

In 2005, several reported incidents of violence against people of color motivated the community of Boulder Creek to combat it in a variety of ways, including holding a candlelight vigil to make a public statement against racism.

In 2008, the San Lorenzo Valley based organization "For the People" operated in violence intervention and youth development, working with "gang-affiliated" youth. It was mentioned specifically on their website that included those in "white power" gangs.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) describes the Confederate flag as a, "state sponsored symbol of white supremacy," and many of that organization's actions include working for the removal of the Confederate flag from governmental and public displays across the country.

The Confederate flags that hang at The Witch's Cottage are of the battle flag variety, and when the Texas NAACP was working to have the Confederate flag removed from license plates in that state, they stated in a press release that, "any objective person should understand that the Confederate Battle Flag represents repression and is a badge of slavery. Besides that, we all know that the Confederacy had an official flag and the Battle Flag was not one that was adopted by the Confederacy nor did it ever fly over Texas. It was adopted by hate groups as a means of expressing anti-Black sentiments and the rest is history. If there was a desire simply to honor one’s ancestors it for certain would not be by using this particular flag."

The Texas NAACP didn't mince words with their arguments, and the organization went on to state that the display of the Confederate flag would lead to the "psychological harm" of African Americans, and that it is a symbol of "discrimination, disrespect and hatred."

The national branch of the NAACP has also worked to have the Confederate flag removed from "private" enterprises, most notably when expressing disappointment with to the band Lynard Skynard when that group recently decided to reverse a decision to remove the Confederate flag from their concerts.

9 out of 10 Confederate Soilders who fought under that St. Andrews Cross inspired Battle Flag for the Confederacy owned NO slaves. They were fighting an oppressive Union Gov't trying to force them back into a Union they had left and to stop them from burn their homes, stealing their livestock and destroying their crops (raping their women too). Screaming racism at every corner numbs the public to when it does happen.

Alex Darocy... You're a real Loser for having made a comparison of the most beautiful Battle Flag ever conceived to a Nazi flag. The fact that you've made reference of it in the same article is very ignorant of you.

Is there really nothing else you can write about in your town ? Oh my God...A Rebel Flag is in a store window...Call the NAACP GESTAPO.

I'm so fed up with you folks, whom have absolutely no knowledge about the historical facts of The War of Northern Aggression. Read a few history books prior to opening your pie hole Buddy. It may perhaps open up some of your closed doors, remove your walls of misguided truth and allow you to explore different horizons.

By the way I am a Confederate re-enactor, 10th Louisiana, Co. C, Infantry Regiment. The NAACP has to stop their own hatred and methods of harassment and perhaps take a few moments to understand that most folks whom either fly or display this Sacred Flag have no interest in racism.

Please remember that slavery was always protected by the American Constitution until after 1865. Both the South AND The North profited from this peculiar institution. Lincoln was certainly not a freedom fighter either. He knew that he couldn't touch slavery and quite frankly, had no issues with it. Hence why he focused in particular on keeping the Union intact. His Emancipation of slaves was only aimed at The Southern States and affected no Northern slave holding States. Simple reason, it wasn't a moral cause, it was a military strategy in order to hit The Confederacy with a major blow to their infrastructure which was indeed based on African labor, but guess what ? African labor was heavily used by the Yanks as well. So with Lincoln's Artificial Emancipation the Yanks gained great numbers of Africans joining their side regarding laborers and as well as joining their army in order to be utilized as sand bags for the white Yankee soldiers. Very important also, due to the Emancipation, England and France were repelled from joining The South and coming to their aid. Although, England and Canada were still assisting The South but unofficially. By the way, The Confederate Battle Flag, is a soldier's flag and 90% of Confederate soldiers didn't even own any slaves. So where's the revisionist history ??? There is none ! Other than of course the Yankee version of history.

The flag is flown to remember these brave souls and is a symbol of rebellion against an overpowering and oppressing central government.

Yes, the first few Southern States seceded in part due to slavery as it was a great portion of their economy, and other valid causes as well, such as extremely high taxes among one of them. However, the remaining Southern States simply joined The Confederacy in order to aid their sister States as Lincoln was about to invade The South with 75,000 troops after having antagonized and provoked The South to fire at Fort Sumter. These soldiers fought for their families, homes, land and more importantly their Southern Independence for a new Southern Nation.

I'm certain that you've also taken the time to study Lincoln's quotes regarding his opinions about slavery and the black race not being able to live in harmony with the white population.

He was far from being a liberator, but instead was a power hungry, racist politician, a war criminal, a hypocrite, an invader and an aggressor to The South.

Fly her high and proud Folks !!! All the power to you my friends ! Don't let the misguided and misinformed intimidate you with their baloney versions of history.

Really? You call this reporting? "It's uncertain...if there has been any attempts by the public to communicate with the owner about them." So contact them, and ask *them* what they think about it instead of throwing out the NAACP's version. The 'history not hate' sign would seem to show they understand what *some* people think, but disagree. It's irresponsible to attempt to connect racial issues in Boulder Creek with an ANTIQUE STORE display in Felton. While it is the SLV, we do have different towns - not all are the same.

I thought the confederate flag stood for tall blonds in short shorts - like in Dukes of Hazzard.

The sad thing here is that you're doing the exact same thing you decry of others who paint all homeless with the bum/junkie brush.

And this is a news story how? Interjecting the Nazi flag into the story as if the two flags are some how comparable is truly a shame and nothing more than sensationalism and worse, intellectual dishonesty.

Confederate flags are American flags by definition and Confederate troops were American troops. This was not a Civil War. It was one group of people fighting to be free of another. It's too bad their Battle Flag has been hijacked by hate groups and used in despicable ways. My father spent five years of his life fighting Nazis, but he would have defended anyone who displayed a Nazi flag because we have free speech in this country. Keep that Battle Flag flying Deo Vindicavit.

The Rebel (Treasonous) Flag was flown by people who assaulted and Killed Patriotic Americans in an attempt to destroy America!

You are totally off base. If the "Confederate Troops" are to be labeled "American", they must be labeled honestly at TREASONOUS people fighting to preserve Slavery and destroy the United States of America!

Today, the Treasonous Rebels would belong in Guantanamo, with you in a cage alongside them!

Because of the history of this flag, I would not shop in any store that displays it. However, to paraphrase Patrick Henry, I will defend to the death your right to display it! I consider free speech, along with our other quickly-eroding Constitutional rights, EXTREMELY important and will do what I can to preserve them!

I fully support the shop owner in displaying the Confederate Battle Flag. The NAACP, yet again promotes their anti-southern, anti-liberty, pro-communist agenda by yet again subjecting anyone who displays a southern symbol in a deliberate attempt to drive flag supporters into the fear of derision. The NAACP, an organization that uses terrorist political and economic terrorism to control those who do not tow their Marxist line, will stop at nothing to destroy anyone who takes pride in their southern heritage. It is time to expose the NAACP for the horrid tactics. It is the NAACP who promotes revisionist history where the Confederate Battle Flag is concerned to promote their own agenda of white hate.

The Battleflag is an Honorable symbol used by Honorable men. It is the flag of the Soldier, free from any political entanglements. It ONLY became an 'issue' because the NAACP declared a war against it in 1991. The NAACP was losing membership by the thousands. The Preisdent of the NAACP was involved in a sex scandal, and other NAACP members were caught and convicted of stealing money. In order to shift attention away from a scandal plagued organization, they created a bogeyman and declared they were the only ones who could defeat him.

Prior to 1991, the Confederate Battleflag was widely used in the US Military, it was used as a symbol on the United States Congressional Gold Medal to bestow upon the last few remaining Confederate Veterans in the 1950s. It was used to launch the USS Stonewall Jackson SSBN 631. It was onboard the USS Robert E Lee SSBN 601.

The Confederate Battleflag flew over the destruction of the Berlin Wall as a symbol against tyranny and oppression.

It was used in the Dukes of Hazzard and in Smokey and the Bandit.

All of this began to change when the racist bigots of the NAACP issued their hatefilled 1991 resolution. But regardless of what the haters and racists of the Tan Klan say, the TRUTH remains!

The Confederate Battleflag is an Honorable Symbol. Shame on the Tan Klan and their marxist allies attempts to demean and attack it!

To defend the display of a Confederate flag in this country is to defend slavery and all the racist horror that slavery bred. The Civil War was fought to end slavery and the Confederate States were the last defenders of it and were beaten and humiliated on the battlefield partly as the result of the fighting of almost 200,000 Black troops that turned the tide against the racists.

A few years ago i took my wife and grandniece on the train ride in Fenton and noticed at the train depot that the Confederate flag was displayed and sold so i would imagine the flyspeck of a town is inhabitated by some racist scum.

We need to finish the Civil War and end wage slavery but that is going to take some sacrifice and effort on the part of the workers and poor. Get busy struggling or get busy starving.

Standing alone, the battle flag is simply a symbol. But people who use it usually aren't liberal. Most anyone who displays it are against liberalism, against race-mixing, and support hatred for anything which is anti-fascist. Look at the comments here. "Communist"? this word used as an antagonistic gesture is an indication of the political paradigm of the pro-Confederate commentators.

The Confederate Battle Flag was revived as a state-sponsored symbol during the "redemption of White Man's Government" across the South since the 1890s, with the imposition of the old Jim Crow Laws. whenever the White Nationalists fought against civil and human rights for the Negroes / Blacks, the Battle flag was dusted off and used publicly as a symbol of the "just Cause", especially during the 1950s and 1960s.

These terrorist sympathizers (they support the genocidal USA military and murderous police officers) hate freedom for those of us they feel ain't "American". They think "cultural marxism" is an evil which must be eradicated. Sounds spookily like Hitler, and that's more than a coincidence. Books from the 1930s by domestic fascists show how closely aligned Confederate Battle Flag wavers (re: White Nationalists) were with Hitler's international fascism networks.

Morons who forget their own history seem pretty stupid to those of us who read their own history books.

I would like to see this White Nationalist display the historical New Afrikan flag (Red, Black, Green), and explain that it's not hate, it's history. Whites like him probably believe the RBG is a hate symbol, and treat our flag like we correctly treat theirs.

Our flag is heritage not hate it is history not racist do not cast your views based on what you have seen in media movies and the teachers who have wrongfuly teached to the way they wanted the history herd and not to the way it really was and the groups who have wrongfuly used it.

It is a fact folks from about every race state and country served that flag and when flown it is in honor of them who served it and also them who lost their life serving it if you done research you to who are bashing our flag might learn you as well had family who served it i will always honor them who served it them who was lost serving it and my heritage by flying it.

As said do not base your views off the ones who wronfuly use and teach it and the media who wrongfuly shows it.

Lincoln was elected by the Republicans, the Democrats south why were slave states in the north of the camp why blacks who fought with the north were in black regiments, and those who fought with the south mixed with white why northern states forbade the presence of black (free or not) on their territories ? I know, all the whites of the time, both north and south, whatever their origins, and even in France had already banned slavery, "They were all racist," it was a normal time , churches, scientists say that the negroes were inferiors. It is for political reasons took place the civil war, if the war had not cost so much, the money would have served to send the Negroes in Africa,

"I will defend to the death your right to display it! I consider free speech, along with our other quickly-eroding Constitutional rights, EXTREMELY important and will do what I can to preserve them!"

The constitution describes the rights of citizens, with respect to government. One person who doesn't work for the government, telling another person that they don't like their communication has nothing to do with constitutional rights.

Judy Perronne and her sister, Denise Woodward, opened Dixie Mattress Co. in Portland's Sunnyside Neighborhood in 1971 using the confederate flag as part of their logo. The business faced the ire of Portland bloggers in 2007 when one added it to his 'Portland Hall of Shame." The sisters defended the use of the flag, saying it represents their roots in Louisiana.

I wrote this a few days ago, and it repeats what others have written. But here it is. I also commend some of Lee's comments on the economic origins of the civil war and the partiality of Northern propaganda.

Some of Confederate Mike's comments about Lincoln's views on slavery are accurate.

The recent movie Lincoln paints a somewhat misleading picture of Lincoln as well. The Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves in areas the Union didn't control and kept them in bondage in the areas still in the Union or reoccupied by Union troops. Lincoln early proposed repatriating former slaves to Africa and made comments about the inferiority of slaves. By modern-day standards he was a racist and pandered to racist standards. However the film is accurate, I believe, in noting his support for the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery throughout the U.S. He grew in office (or, perhaps, responded to political realities).

However, Lincoln was an early opponent of slavery in the 1840's, and the platform on which he ran sought to stop expansion of slavery into the territories. Southern imperialists wanted to expand slavery to Cuba, Mexico, and South America-and probably would have done so if they had prevailed in the war. The Dixie flag represents to many that brutal aspiration and hundreds of years of misery for many.

Opposition to oppressive government is an important thing--and there were many in the South who opposed the Davis regime--Davis's Dixie flag. Lincoln was a politician not an angel and his wartime destruction of civil liberties (now being replicated and expanded by Bush and Obama) are serious matters. He was credibly denounced by many as a tyrant, but the difference between him and Bush/Obama is that his war measures had an end; the current War on Terror does not.

Racist as much of the antebellum North was in its attitudes, voting procedures, public accommodations, etc., it was the South that maintained slavery and left the Union in (the probably false) fear that Lincoln's election would finally challenge its control over the country.

One of the reasons southern Colonies joined the American Revolution was because of the 1772 Somerset decision freeing slaves in England; slaveowners feared such court decisions would ultimately extend to the colonies.

The infamous Three-Fifths Compromise (which counted slaves as votes for slave owners) gave rich slave owning Southerners domineering influence if not control over the Executive, the Courts, and the Congress for 75 years. The amount of misery and human devastation created by this demonic institution can't really be measured. It was ended only by Civil War, even though that was not the intent of Lincoln and the northern politicians who began the war.

Moreover, southern racists after the Civil War through the black codes, disenfranchisement, KKK terror, and slimey deals with northern politicians reestablished a form of peonage slavery for blacks until it was partially dismantled in the upheavals of the 50's and 60's (until blacks returning from WW 1 and WW2 armed themselves in self-defense). For many this return to virtual slavery is what the Dixie flag represents.

The fact that the Emancipation Proclamation was a military & diplomatic strategy to woo England and France, doesn't alter the important consequence of the war--the ending of chattel slavery (though blacks were effectively reduced to a new form of slavery after 1876).

As for "revisionist history"--the racist Southern version was faithfully pumped out for 100 years or more after the war and distributed throughout the north.

I doubt the "new" Southern nation would have been any different than the old Southern nation for the 3 million people enslaved. Probably worse as it would have expanded. To celebrate this is to be blind to what really went on or to celebrate a theory of racial superiority which has been shown to be profoundly evil.

To view Lincoln as "a power hungry, racist politician, a war criminal, a hypocrite, an invader and an aggressor to The South" has more truth than many can accept--but the basic and obscene truths about the South and slavery remain. Hence hostility among those who support human rights to the Dixie flag.

I wish to thank you for the eloquent statements you have made Mr. Norse. All of which carry a substantial amount of truth. You Sir are one of the few whom is capable of understanding the full and complete picture. Please understand that I would never condone slavery and quite frankly have always stood for equal rights concerning all of us living creatures of this world. Everyone should have access to the same conditions and opportunities this world has to offer.

I do however wish to yet again state the fact that the Confederate Soldier, who's Battle Flag this truly is, fought in terrible battle conditions for his home and independence and not for the institution of slavery. Granted, a very small portion whom had stakes in that institution have...

As well, it may not be an excuse or completely valid justification, but The American government was the one whom started slavery by raising and breeding their own people(White Americans) into this type of economy after centuries of conditioning their citizens into what was to them a regular way of life. As you've pointed out, all folks back then simply had a different view and very different mentality towards other races. One cannot compare a man's ideology of centuries ago to a man's thinking today.

I do understand that for some, today and in the recent past, may be offended by the most beautiful Battle Flag ever conceived, although it would be nice if they could as well at least try to comprehend the other side of the story. As it is imperative to uphold a great deal of respect and honor towards the Confederate Soldier.

This having been said, The Old Glory Flag which represents the American Nation is also tainted with unpleasant truths and quite a few of them to add. Although for some reason, to today's people The Confederates seem to be the nasty and evil ones while other "Northern" truths are being completely ignored, forgotten or simply buried under the rug. I never understood how one can embrace one flag and be completely repulsed and offended by another...

As I'm certain that you're already aware Sir that not all folks whom fly The Confederate Battle flag have even an ounce of evil within their hearts and simply wish to honor and pay tribute to the brave souls whom have fought for their Southern land to the very bitter end. Along with being proud of standing up to a superior power which behaved as the aggressor.

As well, we all know that the common man always fights the businessman's and politician's battles.

To continue the argument that the Northern industrialists were just as evil in the short AND long term with their worked-to-death and housed in subhuman conditions wage slaves (indentured workers) as the antiquated Plantation system of the South, with it's worked-to-death 'plain ol' slaves' who could at least breath fresh (if not free), non-tubercle (as in tuberculosis and lung destroying lint filled) air.

Engles who was a capitalist in England and Karl Marx commented this way. How dare the slavers raise the red flag and fight for the chattel slavery of any other part of our specie.

We are one specie with four races and success is unity of the workers of the world which is strength. Every race in our specie must be treated equally, and race, religion. and gender must not be discriminated against by any Slaveholders society.

When the Imperialist Camp Dismantles its war machine and its manufactury then comes the possibility of freeing the world's peoples.

Workers of the world unite!! End pollution wars, not endless wars for more and more pollution. Ye yet have a world to win!!